We adapt the (Sidrauski, 1967) monetary model to study the hypothesis of anticipation of future consumption. We assume that anticipation of future consumption affects an agent's instantaneous utility and that all effects of future consumption on current wellbeing are captured by the stock of...

This paper presents an extension of the two-period Samaritan's Dilemma in order to analyze the potential for foreign aid to promote freedom. An example is the United States' recent opening towards Cuba. It is shown that a donor nation's dual concern for economic reforms and greater freedoms can...

This paper makes two contributions to the literature on terrorism: 1) It presents a model that explains the cyclical characteristics of terrorist attacks, and 2) It improves on the existing theoretical cyclical models since it takes explicitly into account terrorists’ motivations and...

This paper studies the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492. This forced migration process is addressed with a model that blends demographic, religious and macroeconomic features. The optimal migration path is derived. It is shown that a large portion of the Sephardim community fled the country...

The purpose of this paper is to contribute a new model of the Gold Standard, focusing on the interaction between resource scarcity and demographics. In a dynamic micro-founded model we find that: i) prices and equilibrium gold holdings increase with population (a scale effect), but decrease with...

Following the Arab-Spring protests, we examine macroeconomic interactions between a productive firm and a rent-seeking government characterized by a continuous probability of regime shift. The model is able to rationalize the early growth leaps witnessed in many Arab economies (the “Social...